Part of that deal was dependent on getting a new coal supply contract, which seems to have come through.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Pinnacle West noted it has come to an agreement with the Navajo Nation to supply coal from a mine near the Farmington, N.M., power plant.

The Navajo Nation is buying the BHP Navajo Coal Co. from BHP Billiton, which will continue as mine manager through July 2016. APS needed a long-term agreement to get the power plant supplied with coal.

The deal technically had a Dec. 31 date by which parties could pull out if conditions hadn’t been met.

APS doesn’t seem like it will end the agreement. It is looking at the two new units as capable of supplying very similar power as the three older units, at the same time emitting less pollution that will draw questions from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other clean-air regulators. Not that a coal-fired plant will ever get away from that completely.

SCE doesn’t simply want to sell the plant. It is required to divest its ownership of coal-fired power plants by 2016 under a California Public Utilities Commission ruling.